First of all, know that good skill-building is your key to making money
and doing well in Runescape. No amount of begging or scavenging will earn you
as much as actually building up a skills and utilizing them for capital gain.

There are many skills that will make you decent money in Runescape, and
there are guides on RuneHQ which will tell you more about these different
skills. That's not what this guide is for, however. This guide is intended to
teach you a bit more about different ways to build skills, and we will start
first with questing.

Some people detest questing. In fact, they hate nothing more. I
personally consider this attitude to be a self-imposed blockade between themselves
and fast skill-building, for most quests give decent, if not great amounts of
experience in various skills. RuneHQ features a "Quest Experience Guide" which
will tell you all you need to know about these quests, the skills they
boost, and by how much. You will need to train up to beat a lot of these quests,
but they will help you tremendously in the long run. Questing will also allow
you entrance to areas that will be unavailable to you without having done a
certain quest.

Additionally, explore the environment of Runescape, and you will find a
wealth of raw materials to work with in order to build your skills. Shear
sheep, pick flax, mine until you can mine iron, and then mine nothing but iron
for a long time. Bank all that you collect, and when you have several hundred
of a certain item (especially flax and iron) sell a hundred or so. It will
pad your bank account and leave you enough material to work with as well. Once
you reach the appropriate Crafting level, spinning flax into bowstrings will
bring you up several levels, VERY quickly. Save up those bowstrings for
fletching, or sell them for about 1 1/2 times what you sold the flax for.

Combat skills are important, of course. As you get to be a higher level
player, you will be able to obtain rare items only from certain monsters.
This is why it's very important to build your Slayer skill, as well. Some items
ONLY come from higher level Slayer monsters, and without the appropriate
Slayer level, you will not only be unable to kill these monsters, they may kill
you instead, and very quickly!

It is also worth mentioning that skill building WILL take a long time.
There are some shortcuts through questing, and some skill-building activities
are easier than others. Do NOT think that you will get much done with high
combat and nothing else, unless you ONLY PK (Player-kill). If that's the road
you choose, be prepared to die often for a long time until you build combat
skills high enough to survive.

VERY IMPORTANT: As a lower level player, bury EVERY BONE YOU FIND. You
may not even use prayer until you reach higher levels, but by the time you are
a higher level player, you will thank yourself for all the bone-burying you
did as a new player. Those prayer points add up and can literally save your
life later on.

Recent addition to modern "electronic" vocabulary. "Noob", a person who is
new to a certain activity. Derogatory term.

There, now that we've gotten that out of the way, allow me to give you
some examples of actions and behaviors that will label you as a noob.

- Begging -

I don't know anyone who DOESN'T find this annoying. Standing in the bank and
begging for gp or items from higher-level players will gain you nothing but
contempt, ridicule, and disgust. First of all, if this tactic has EVER worked
and someone did give a beggar money or items, it was a one in a million
event. Most of the time, all begging will accomplish is to cause people to
dislike you on sight and become less likely to associate with you. Probably the
only thing worse than standing in a public place and begging is to follow
someone around begging, which brings us to the next item on this list.

- Piggybacking -

Let me get make this perfectly clear. Unless you know someone or have been
invited to go somewhere with them, do NOT click on their character and choose
"follow". Most players don't particularly like this, in general. Be advised
that they will like this a LOT less if you follow while continually asking
questions and/or begging. If you ask a random player a question and they do not
answer you, then they are probably busy or simply do not care to talk to you
at the moment. Please be respectful of everyone else's right to play
uninterrupted.

- Harassing other players -

Any of you ever have a little brother or sister (or your mother, for that
matter) who will NOT leave you alone? That's essentially what it's like having a
lower level player following you around, asking you questions (that they
could have looked up the answers to on their own), or adding you to their
friends' list for the sole purpose of messaging you to beg or bother you any time
they feel like it. If you persist in doing this, you run the risk of annoying
someone with a short temper who ALSO belongs to a guild or clan. If this
occurs, then the next time you find yourself in the wilderness wearing your best
armor (and you will, we all have to go at some point), you will be massacred.
If nothing else, think about how much you would enjoy this yourself, and if
you decide that you wouldn't appreciate this happening to you, then it's best
you avoid doing it.

- Scamming (or at least, really poor merchanting) -

To be terribly honest, the people who are scam the most (and most
effectively) are higher level players, and they usually pull these scams on lower level
players. The most obvious reason for this being that the higher level
players usually know the value of items better than lower level players, and will
exploit their less advanced counterparts for financial gain. I have a low
opinion of players who scam others, and most Runescape players do.. the game can
be challenging enough without dishonest people trying to make it worse. The
reason I added this topic to this section, is that not only am I trying to
discourage future high level scammers, I am trying to warn you against the
practice for other reasons; namely, that attempting to scam as a lower level
player, with only a budding understanding of the game, will make you look like a
complete idiot. Nothing will make people call you a noob faster than trying to
sell something like "RARE EYE PATCH!!!! 50k!!!!!!" in the middle of the bank.
First of all, it's such a lame scam that only a gullible new player would
fall victim to; secondly, you just identified yourself as not only a scammer,
but a poor one at that.

Honest business practice will get you repeat customers, and this will serve
you far better in the long run than potentially getting yourself reported
while simultaneously making a fool of yourself.

- Arrow Stealing -

One of the downright lowest, dirtiest, offensive, and most pathetic of all
noob actions. This will almost definitely label you as target practice in
player-vs-player areas, and almost nothing is more obnoxious than an arrow
stealer. Scavenging is, believe it or not, OKAY.. but only in certain instances, as
I will describe in the section "Scavenging".

- Summary -

When you get to be a higher level player, it takes a very long time to keep
building your skills. Every level of every skill requires more experience
points than the last; trying to make money and build these skills takes a lot of
time and effort. It takes all of these things when you are a lower level
player as well, but this game makes you work to earn every level you attain. If
you encounter a higher level player who ignores you, there have probably been
MANY lower level players before you who either begged or harassed this
individual to the point that he or she no longer wants to bother with lower level
players at all. Don't follow someone around who may be off to build skills or
complete a quest, and don't ask questions that you could come to RuneHQ and
get (often better and more accurate) answers to. It's not the fact that you're
new which causes higher level players to dislike you; it's usually because
you're being rude, or many before you have been rude and inconsiderate of that
player's time and right to play without harassment.

(Note: There are many other skills that will help you build your bank
account, but these are a few to get you started.)

- Combat -

When fighting monsters, you will get all kinds of interesting drops. Coins,
runes, and all other stackable items should be collected, every chance you
have to collect them. As a new player, you should NEVER leave runes behind if
you can possibly help it. Bury all bones, keep yourself well-fed and healthy,
and do not leave behind any monster drops. You can always sell them at general
stores or bank them for later.

- Crafting -

Collect and spin as much wool as you possibly can, and bank it. You will
need it as you become able to make amulets and holy symbols, which are worth
selling and can greatly advance your crafting level. As soon as you can spin
bowstrings, pick all the flax you possibly can and get busy spinning in Seer's
Village. These can sell (as of today, which is December 15, 2005) for 150 gp
each. It may not sound like much per bowstring, but let's do a little math..
150 X 100 = 15000!!! That's 15k for very little work and a great bit of
experience in crafting. If you pick flax and spin it in Seer's Village, you don't
even have to travel very far. There's a bank right in the middle of town, full
of people who buy and sell fletching materials. Currently, Seer's Village is
one of the busiest trading areas in Runescape, and by spinning bowstrings,
you'll make good money and good progress in crafting. Over several days
spinning bowstrings (and not the WHOLE time, but a lot of it), I brought my own
crafting skill up by 12 levels!

While you have the option of picking flax and selling it, unspun, for 100 gp
each, be advised that just picking flax does not currently help to build any
skill.

- Mining -

Mining takes some time, but is an excellent skill to build. Once you can
mine iron, I suggest mining it as much as you can possibly stand it, and banking
it until you have quite a bit of it. You will need to smith with it to bring
up your smithing level (once you are able to smith iron, that is), but you
can also sell it for about 100 gp a piece. 100 iron ores can get you an easy
10k, because most higher level players would rather mine coal or higher to
bring up their own mining and smithing levels. I wouldn't bother smithing iron
unless you can afford a Ring of Forging. Without this ring, you have only a
50/50 chance of obtaining an iron bar from an iron ore. I suggest that when
mining coal and gold, you bank a good bit of it and keep it for yourself. You
will need the gold for crafting jewelry, and the coal for smithing steel and
everything higher than steel. You can easily sell coal for 150 gp each, but you
might kick yourself later when you realize how much coal you've sold that you
could be using now to boost your smithing.

- Fletching and Smithing -

I put these two skills together because you can utilize them to make arrows.
Arrows are always in demand, and while you should bank quite a few for your
own purposes later, iron arrows (and higher) will always fetch a decent
price. Additionally, you can make them very easily and they will end up helping to
build your fletching skill. One bar (of any metal other than silver and gold)
will make 15 arrowheads, and one regular log will make 15 arrow shafts.
You'll need to kill quite a few chickens for feathers, but it will be worth it in
the long run. I suggest keeping all bronze arrows for yourself because they
don't fetch much of a price, and they are the most "disposable" of all
ranging-type ammunition, and you will need them later to build your range skill.

- Fishing and Cooking -

Players ALWAYS need food. Skip cooking a lot of other foods and just level
yourself up to the point that you can cook fish. Save all fish lower than
lobsters for yourself, and when you are able to cook and catch lobsters, do
NOTHING ELSE for several days. Before you know it, you will be able to catch and
cook swordfish. Sell lobsters and swordfish and keep a few for yourself.
Whenever you get up to the point that you can catch and cook sharks, your fortune
is made. They sell for at least 1k each.

- Banking -

In case I haven't said it enough, BANK EVERYTHING. Things that may not
appear useful to you now, may prove very useful later. For example, you should
keep ALL herbs that you find. You can sell unids (UN-IDentified herbs) for about
1k each, but you will also need all of those herbs at some point, when your
herblore skill builds. It's just a matter of making money, but also putting
aside some of those materials for later. Save every rune, herb, ore, seed,
gem, and feather that you find. They will always prove useful later on, and a
lot of these items are stackable in your carried inventory.

I am only going to address some very basic safety precautions that ALL
players, regardless of level, should take note of.

- Bank PIN -

Be SURE to set a PIN code on your bank account, and also be sure that this
PIN code is in NO WAY related to your password.

- Account Basics -

NEVER share an account with another person, if not especially someone who
you've never met. I realize that this seems an obvious thing to avoid, but you
might be surprised at how many people "forget" this and end up losing items
and money over this, if not being outright suspended from Runescape.

NEVER tell another player your password or PIN code.

ALWAYS make sure your password contains both letters and numbers. It must
not be something that can be easily guessed, nor should it have any significance
to anyone but you. For example, your dog's name is Ralph and your mother's
birthday is May 24th. You could make your password "ralp524h". No one is
likely to make a random guess and come up with that exact password.

- Sharing/Trading In-Game -

If you make a trade, it's FINAL. As far as Jagex is concerned, you've agreed
to it if you click "Accept" at the second trade window. With this knowledge
in mind, please think very carefully before agreeing to "loan" someone your
full rune armor, or any other valuable items. If they decide not to give it
back, there's pretty much nothing you can do about it. Personally, I don't loan
anything to anyone. Within guilds and clans, sometimes there are some
borrowing arrangements, but I would still exercise caution before making an
agreement of this nature.

When making a trade, look very carefully at both the first and second trade
screens. In noted form, a mithril or adamantite sword can look suspiciously
like a rune one. Please READ the item description before clicking "Accept",
otherwise, it's really your own fault when you don't end up with what you paid
for. Additionally, being scammed or hacked is NOT an excuse to beg random
people for money or items. Remember, no one likes a noob; people like mid-level
noobs even less.

While waiting around while someone is ranging to steal their arrows is NOT
okay, there are some instances wherein it is not harmful or terribly rude to
take things from other player's kills. The only way that you will know if this
is an acceptable thing to do, is to observe. Allow me to give an example.

If you are in the Slayer's mansion in Morytania (northwest of Canifis) and
you see a level 80+ player killing banshees, watch a moment or two and see what
it is that he is leaving behind from kills. If you see bunches of
Marrentill and Harralander appearing, then this player has probably identified these
herbs and discarded them to preserve room in his inventory for higher level
herbs. I find it more appropriate to ask first, but most likely, this player
won't mind one bit if you pick up the items he has discarded.

Most often, that level 80+ player doesn't care one bit if you take the
identified herbs which he has dropped on the ground, but it's always more polite
to ask. By scavenging, and taking items discarded by other players, you can not
only help to build your bank inventory with items you may need (or need
later), you can also make a profit which (at your level) would be a decent one
for you, while to him, it's not worth taking up space in his inventory. He's
probably hunting for higher level herbs or mystic gloves, not coins, runes,
gems, or otherwise. Ask first, and if that higher level player doesn't care,
then feel free to take anything that becomes visible on the ground. At that
point, he now knows you're watching for items to appear, and will take care not
to leave anything that he'll want to keep from the kill.

Now, alternately, if the player appears annoyed with you, I would suggest
that you leave and seek another scavenging ground. No need to make anyone else
uncomfortable, and more players than not won't care one bit if you pick up
what they leave behind. To be honest, most higher level players kind of expect
that if they leave something on the ground, someone else will probably pick
it up.

Hopefully, this guide has been some help to newer players, and will help cut
down some potential animosity between players in the future. Good luck!

This Special Report was written by Mellania.This Special Report was entered into the database on Fri, Mar 03, 2006, at 08:22:59 AM by MrStormy, and it was last updated on Sat, Apr 25, 2009, at 01:07:38 PM by Alfawarlord.

If you see this guide on any other site, please report it to us so we can take legal action against anyone found stealing our content. This guide is copyrighted by RuneHQ, and its use on other sites is expressly forbidden. Do not ask if you can use our guides or images, the answer is and always will be NO!